Cricinfo's Anand Vasu wins sports journalists' award

Anand Vasu, an assistant editor of Cricinfo, has won the award for the Best Interview of the Year in the inaugural Indian Sports Journalism Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday night. The awards function, organised by the Sports Journalists' Federation of India, was attended by Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Agarkar and several notable personalities from other sporting fields.

Vasu, who has extensively covered both international and domestic cricket over the last six years, was nominated for the category for his Talking Cricket with Jonty Rhodes, which appeared in the February 2005 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, and walked away with the prize ahead of Clayton Murzello from Mid Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid, and G Krishnan from Deccan Herald, a Bangalore-based daily. Vasu was also nominated for the Best Cricket Writer of the Year but lost out to Kadambari Murali from Hindustan Times

Dravid, one of the guests of honour, spoke about the importance of journalism and how "good performances on the field turn into memorable ones once journalists write about it." Michael Ferreira, the former billiards world champion who was one of the three judges, said that the standard of journalism had improved in the country and added that it was a very tough task to choose the final winners.